Penmaen Burrows Burial Chamber - Dolmen.

 

Visit date 08-2022.  

View showing entrance passage

There are many ancient burial sites around the southwest of Wales and I took a recent visit to Penmaen Burrows on the Gower peninsular to try and find one of the lesser known minor Neolithic burial sites.

These burial sites are often marked with three or more uprights and a large capstone. Often this is all that is left of the site which would originally be covered with earth. This upright/capstone structure has been called a Dolmens or often also referred to here in Wales as a Cromlech., but my understanding is that Cromlech can also refer to a circular stone structure.

Close up of front of dolmen

It stands around 50 feet above the shoreline in a bowl near a sand dune. It consists of two rectangular chambers and a 2-metre leading passage.

The main chamber is about 4 metres long and around 2 metres wide.

There are a number of uprights possibly 6 or seven and a large capstone made of some sort of sandstone conglomerate.

Side view of entrance

The capstone has been displaced somewhat with the passing of time and sits at an obtuse angle.

The chamber would have been more than 1 metre high.

The second chamber is almost buried again.

investigations were carried out in 1860 and 1881 and the remains were cleared in 1893 down to the original ground surface.

Most of what was uncovered has been reclaimed by the blowing sand from the coastline.

View from rear showing capstone

At the site were found some bones and artefacts which consisted mainly of late debris in the filling of blown sand, including human jaw fragments, animal bones and a piece of a bone tool handle. Bones were found beneath two internal paving slabs that were left in place while `three small pieces of brown pottery lay on an early surface.

View of conglomerate showing quartz content

Some of the conglomerate stones have a lot of quartz in them but are in tact. There have been many burial sites where the stones can be seen pitted where the quartz has been removed.

The burial site is around 1.5 km to the southwest of Penard Castle which is on the other side of the bay which I visited on an earlier trip and can be seen here.

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51.57278938446611, -4.120320919546553

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Although it is possible to walk here from The Cliffs Bay, the easiest route is from the west side of the burrows.

Here the site is easy to find just 20 minutes from the small car park which has parking for around a dozen cars (51.575623411575215, -4.1279809835289045) it does get busy with hikers and dog walkers. The pathway is well signposted from here and the path taken will pass a old stone building and then through a set of gates. A few hundred metres further there is an offset crossroads in the path. The first on the left goes to a secondary mound of stone but the second path on the right takes you through the hedge and into the clearing where the dolmen is found.

My visit was at the Hight of summer and the vegetation was perhaps at it's most vigorous. It might be easier to find in the winter.